Parents, students express concerns about reducing FFA teacher position

RE-1 Valley Board of Education receives good news about increase in per pupil funding

STERLING — The RE-1 Valley Board of Education heard objections to several budget considerations at their business meeting on Monday.

During the open forum portion of the meeting, Sterling FFA students and parents expressed frustration about the possibility of FFA adviser Jonathan Spreng's position not being filled after he leaves at the end of the school year.

“As we always have to look at instruction offerings across the district,” Summers said. “We look at best ways to provide services and to continue to support students and learning.”

She said administrative staff has discussed whether it's appropriate to reduce half a position, which is what they added this year, and she pointed out they've already made reductions to many other areas in the district.

Immediate past FFA president Josh Frank pointed out that both of those teachers are full-time teachers. Plus, state FFA recommends a 60 student maximum per teacher and with the program increasing to a projected 156 students next year, one teacher would not be able to meet that requirement. However, currently they have 136 members, which would mean they don't meet requirements right now.

“I have a feeling if one teacher is cut, we're not going to be able to make it as an FFA chapter,” Frank said.

There was some confusion about how many students will be involved in FFA. The numbers Summers received from the state showed 75 students registered; parents said that's not even close to the number of students they know want to be involved.

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Summers explained to the board that administrators have looked at the state requirements and had conversations with career and technical education personnel at the Colorado Department of Education. “So if a program is reduced, it is with the understanding that we've met the requirements to serve our students.”

There was concern about the teacher reduction causing the FFA program to go away.

Board president Eric Windom noted cutting programs like FFA isn't even a consideration. However, parents claimed that if the district drops the half teacher, the state vocational department won't fund Sterling's program because they don't meet staff requirements. Summers said the recommendation wouldn't be made if it would impact the vocational funding.

There was also a concern that this will cause the district to lose more students and may cause students to drop out of school entirely.

Additionally, Frank expressed concern that Caliche's FFA adviser, Todd Thomas, is getting paid an extra stipend to take care of some of the Supervised Agricultural Experiences (SAEs) over the summer. That would be “extremely unfair” to the Sterling advisers, because they don't get paid extra to do that, he said.

“Vocational ag teachers are paid extra for that work that they do in the summer. Be assured that your current teachers are paid for that time beyond that regular contract,” Summers said.

It was pointed out that a lot of FFA students show in the Logan County Fair and parents question how much time Thomas, who is the manager of the Fair, will have for Sterling students.

Also speaking during the open forum was Renee Verssue, a parent and substitute teacher, who expressed concern about the district considering cutting fifth grade band and the damage it could cause to the whole band program.

Later in the meeting, the board heard an update on the 2013-14 budget considerations. A budget was presented that showed no reductions to staff at this time.

Summers said RE-1 received some information from the state school finance committee about an increase in the district's per pupil funding allocation.

According to district finance officer Deb County, the district's new estimated per pupil funding, after the negative factor, was increased from $6,298.79 to $6,337.47.

“We also need to keep in mind that this bill still needs to go through the Senate and the House,” County said. “There will be more changes as it continues to move along, but this is a positive change for the district.”

Nothing was changed in the operating expenses; they still remain the same as presented at previous meetings.

Due to the increase in per pupil funding, the budget now expends $550,457 more than the anticipated revenue, compared to $660,000 before the increase. The reserves are still at three months, as the district has always projected.

During the budget discussion, Summers made a recommendation to discontinue Darrell Smith Academy and blend the students and staff into Sterling High School. Right now, there are 18 students pre-registered to attend the academy next school year.

Summers said there wouldn't be a cost savings to the district, but “it allows us to plan differently for the future.”

Students will begin getting tested in social studies in the future, so she suggested the district keep the social studies/government teacher at SHS, because that's a place they've reduced and haven't filled. That teacher could also “do some things with the kids that have been in the Darrell Smith program, for an hour or two a day, on the study skills and the character-building kinds of things that were part of the support in Darrell Smith.” Other students might benefit from the instruction as well.

Additionally, the math/science teacher could be used in supportive roles, as they need to address some of the accountability with those subjects. This would allow them to look at reallocating the instruction SHS is sharing with Sterling Middle School in those areas.

Summers also noted they could use the space where the academy is located at SHS to help with the behavior support program.

The board asked her to provide them with a decision paper at their special meeting April 30, detailing why she's making this recommendation, before they decide whether or not to approve the request.

She also provided further details regarding concurrent enrollment, as the board looks at whether they should reduce the amount of credit hours the district will pay for. During the first semester at both SHS and Caliche High School, about 124 students took concurrent enrollment classes and about 120 second semester. Of those, 16 students first semester and 16 second semester took more credits than the 16 the district pays for.

Summers suggested the board might not want to change the number of credits they pay for, because students are taking advantage of it and it could be an attraction to help bring new students to the district.

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